Editorial July 4, 1908 Issue

A SURFEIT OF CIRCULARS

Archibald McLellan

The innumerable advertising circulars with which those whose names appear in the directory of practitioners published in The Christian Science Journal are being constantly deluged, would seem to indicate that a general confidence has been established in the minds of many people who have "something to sell." that Christian Scientists have at last solved the much discussed yet somewhat elusive "financial problem" which has at times clouded the horizon for most of us, whether we be plain citizens, captains of industry, or the framers of political platforms.

A few persons, we suppose, are so familiar with money that it may seem ridiculous to them for any one to turn to a dictionary for a definition of the word. We have found, however, that Webster's Dictionary is a good thing to have at one's elbow, and just now it is particularly useful because it informs us that money is "whatever . . . is used as a medium of effecting exchange of property," and we are thus enlightened as to the object of the circulars which have gone so far toward filling the waste-baskets of many Christian Scientists. The problem is very simple, and can be stated in about this way. You are a Christian Scientist and are supposed to have money. I may or may not be a Christian Scientist and I want money. I send you a circular, offering to sell you a gold-mine or a gold brick. You send me the "medium of effecting exchange of property" and the deed is done, the "financial demonstration" is made.

A striking thing about this circular surfeit that has been forced upon Christian Scientists is that it has seemed to have certain cycles or seasons or fashions. At one time our "dear brother in Truth" (we quote from the circulars) was anxious to confer upon us the great favor of making us stockholders in the most profitable gold-mine that ever existed within or without the imagination of mortals, and to do this he (the dear brother, etc.) was willing to make us a present of one or more shares of preferred stock with every share of common stock,—provided, of course, that the "medium of effecting exchange of property" accompanied our order for the common stock. Later, another "dear brother" who desired to lubricate life's pathway, and incidentally to accelerate the movement of our dollars, loomed large upon the scene with his offer to make our everlasting fortune in oil; but notwithstanding the fabulous number of "barrels per day" of which the author of the circular discoursed, the oil vogue was short-lived and comparatively inexpensive. To borrow a phrase from the fashion papers, waste-baskets were "worn large" during this period.

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